Photographers name VND Newspaper of the Year
The Valley News Dispatch has been named Newspaper of the Year by the News Photographers Association of Greater Pittsburgh.
VND photographer Justin Guido was runner-up for Photographer of the Year.
The VND won 13 awards -- the most of any newspaper in the region -- including three first-place awards, for work during 2005.
An independent panel of photographers served as judges for the association's annual contest. Winners were announced Tuesday night.
Guido won first place in the pictorial category for photos published while he worked at the Leader Times of Kittanning, a sister paper of the Valley News Dispatch, which also ran most of his award-winning photos.
Guido also won second place for spot news, general news and sports feature, and an honorable mention for his sports portfolio.
In addition to Guido, the Valley News Dispatch's Bob Fritz, Eric Felack and Steven Dietz took home honors.
Fritz captured first place in the humor category and third place for general news and sports action photography.
Dietz, a freelance photographer and regular contributor to the Valley News Dispatch, won first place for spot news, and Felack won honorable mention in the same category.
"The Valley News Dispatch has a long tradition of photographic excellence," said Jeff Domenick, VND editor. "I'll put our staff up against any in the region, and I think the awards reflect that excellence."
In all, eight Tribune-Review Publishing Co. photographers captured 22 of the 32 awards given, and first place in eight of the 13 categories in which winners were announced.
The Valley News Dispatch's sister publication, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, was runner-up in the Newspaper of the Year contest.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Justin Merriman won Photographer of the Year for the second consecutive year. He also won best of show and first places in the general news and news picture story categories. Merriman began his career at the VND.
The Tribune-Review's Joe Appel, Phil Pavely and Andrew Russell also were honored.
"We're extremely proud of the work of our photo staff," said Frank Craig, editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "These awards are further proof of their commitment to quality photojournalism."
The association, of which Merriman is president, was formed in 1970 to promote news photography and to assist photographers in Western Pennsylvania. The organization has more than 110 members.
The Beaver County Times finished third in the Newspaper of the Year contest, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was fourth and the Uniontown Herald-Standard was fifth.
